Labor Department Releases 2007 Program Highlights for
the Office of Labor-Management Standards

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) has released its "FY 2007 Annual Report." The report highlights the fiscal year success of the agency and the importance of its role in supporting America's workforce through its enforcement of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA).

To ensure union financial integrity, OLMS investigated over 400 criminal cases resulting in 99 indictments and 118 convictions of union officials and others for embezzlement and other violations of the LMRDA. The FY 2007 Annual Report describes some of the most significant criminal cases during the year, including an OLMS investigation that led to the conviction of the former chief financial officer of the New York State Nurses Association who wrote a series of unauthorized checks to himself totaling more than $1.19 million and was ordered by the court to make full restitution.

Safeguarding union democracy is also a major responsibility of OLMS under the LMRDA. Following complaints that unions had violated election regulations, OLMS conducted 113 election investigations in fiscal year 2007, resulting in 7 lawsuits seeking a new election supervised by OLMS. In 26 cases where OLMS determined that the union had violated the LMRDA’s election requirements, the union voluntarily agreed to have OLMS supervise a new election. The FY 2007 Annual Report describes several of the most significant OLMS election cases, including a court-approved settlement of its suit seeking to overturn the 2005 election of officers conducted by the Washington Teachers’ Union, whereby OLMS supervised the union’s 2007 election; as well as indictments involving officers of Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago, Illinois, for conspiring to defraud members of their right to vote, embezzling or stealing union assets (i.e., official ballots), and rigging the election of union officers.

In releasing this report, Don Todd, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Programs, stated: “The results shown in this annual report are a reflection of the efforts of the OLMS staff. I am proud of the results and the staff that produced them.”

Part of the Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration, OLMS is the front line agency responsible for enforcing most criminal and civil provisions of the LMRDA. Its mission is to ensure fiscal responsibility and basic standards of democracy in labor organizations representing employees in private industry. For further information, please visit www.olms.dol.gov.

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